No not the folk group from the late 1940’s and 1950’s, but a large family of very different birds from Africa. There are over 100 different species of ‘weaver’ bird and I was fortunate to come across 11 of these amazing little birds (approx. 17-25cm) during my visit to Tanzania earlier this year. Here is a montage of nine of them and each individual bird can be seen separately on the Tanzania Gallery. There is no ‘cookie-cutter’ fits all in the world of weavers, they can behave differently, come in different colours and sizes, such as the quite large but fairly nondescript Rufous-tailed Weave ..read more

This baby elephant (see also Peek-a-Boo) as I’ve said before was thought to be less than two weeks old when we happened upon his small herd, but boy was he so inquisitive and a handful for his mum and sisters. On this occasion we were sat a good distance from him and his mum watching them feeding on some bushes and shrubbery. Bored with this, the little fella decided to see what else he could find for amusement and seeing our large green truck decided to head over for a look see (note the shadow on the ground). He came right over to us in next to no time, lifting his trunk up by the window fo ..read more

I’m heading back to Cape St. Mary’s in Newfoundland today and when I was there last spring watching the arrival of the Northern Gannets, I was quite surprised when this handsome looking guy flew in and landed on the cliffs across from me. This is a seabird known as a Razorbill (Alca torda) and apparently a few do nest in that location, but greater numbers nest in other areas around the Newfoundland coast. This sighting was a first for me and I was really pleased to see him looking so fine in his breeding black upper plumage, with that telltale nose and bill stripe. Colloquially these birds we ..read more

The Leopard (Panthera pardus) is a solitary cat that is mostly active at night. But, as we see with these shots of this lone female, they can sometimes be found resting the day away high in a tree. I’ve always had a fondness for leopards and this was my first sighting of one in the wild and I certainly made up for my long wait – some 300 plus shots of her were reeled off in next to no time! Sadly today, African leopards, along with most of the 9 recognised subspecies such as the Amur leopard, are listed as endangered species, partly through hunting, but mostly through habitat loss with 75 per ..read more

I love this shot of a male grizzly bear that is about seven or eight years old who was happy for us to watch him whilst he was sitting eating his lunch of fresh springtime sedge. The attention in his eye as he briefly checks his surroundings for safety and the way his front right paw remains wrapped around the sedge ready to lift his next mouthful, that, combined with the detail and copper colour in his head, makes the shot feel special even without the direct eye contact many crave for ..read more

We loved watching several groups of hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius) whilst in Tanzania and although they spent a lot of time just resting almost completely submerged at the surface of the water, when they were a little more active, they certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. A common pastime included what looked like play fighting such as in these two shots here. Hippopotami love the water, (hence the latin ‘amphibius’) and spend most of their days in pools, rivers, swamps and mangroves etc. but come nightfall they head ashore to graze and will feed for several hours before dawn ..read more

This is a sub-species of ‘Plains’ zebra known as ‘Grant’s’ Zebras (Equus quagga boehmi), they are the smallest, but most abundant of the three types of zebra (Plains, Grevvy’s and Mountain) found in Africa. They are regularly seen sleeping in this formation, sometimes numbering several animals supporting each other. The primary reason is for safety in numbers – this makes them look bigger which will help to confuse potential predators. Also, sleeping like this enables one of them to always be awake so as to alert the others if danger approaches and by sleeping stood up, they are ready to take ..read more

Here’s a young ‘Nile’ Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) and although many miles from the River Nile, this genus of crocodile is commonly found in Eastern and Southern Africa (the smaller West Africa crocodile is found in the West of the continent). Not ones to be trifled with, these guys have a fearsome reputation for aggression and stealthy attacks on prey (including humans) and they will often wait several days for the right moment to strike. This youngster is doing really well as only ten percent of laid eggs are estimated to survive to hatching and only one percent of those hatchlings are ..read more

The throes of winter are fighting hard to stick around in Newfoundland right now, but slowly and surely it is being beaten back. Part of the arsenal of getting over winter is the expectation and anticipation of what is to come. One of the things many people are looking forward to is the arrival of the Atlantic puffins back at their nesting colonies on some of the rocky outcrops around the coast of the island. Hopefully within the next five weeks or so we’ll start to see the first arrivals of these little birds – who will quickly get to work cleaning and restocking their burrows ready for thei ..read more

Several people have asked me about or for elephant pictures since before I went away, so here’s a little teaser to be getting on with. This little guy was a character and thought to be no more than two weeks old at the time of our encounter. He certainly didn’t stay tucked under mums legs very often and would head off on little ‘mini’ adventures a few feet away, so there are a couple of stories of him and his herd to come but for now I hope you enjoy this little peek ..read more